False alarms by Apple’s iPhone 14 series’ Crash Detection feature are causing problems in Japan, with fire departments near skiing areas getting more emergency call-outs than usual because of the automated calls.
The Fire and Disaster Management Agency of the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry has issued a warning to smartphone users regarding crash-detecting technologies in smartphones and other devices, due to an increase in automated attempts to reach for help when it is not necessary, reports AppleInsider.
This problem has been an issue for the Kita-Alps Nagano Fire Department, which handles five municipalities in Nagano prefecture.
The report mentioned that 919 emergency calls were made between December 16, 2022, and January 23, of which 134 were false calls, with most triggered by Crash Detection within a skiing area.
Similarly, Gujo City Fire Department in Gifu prefecture received 351 emergency calls from January 1 to January 23, of which 135 calls were false alarms.
It is possible to turn off the feature, but one firefighter explained that since it is an effective feature in cases where a serious accident actually happened, “we can’t ask users to turn it off”.
